Aperture Foundation and Villa Gillet present photographer Matthew Pillsbury in conversation with French geographer Michel Lussault. Working primarily in New York, Pillsbury captures human activity in urban environments, from isolated moments—tuned into the omnipresent screens of our tablets, laptops, televisions, and phones—to crowded spectacles at museums, parades, cathedrals, and even protests. This decade-long project has culminated in Pillsbury’s first monograph, City Stages, published by Aperture in September 2013. A geographer specializing in urban studies, Lussault depicts the impact of globalization on space, and the way we experience and organize societies today. These two flâneurs observe and discuss the relationships of individuals to their daily environments and the urban landscape.

The discussion will be followed by a book signing of City Stages.

This event is presented as part of “Walls and Bridges,” a ten-day French-American arts and ideas festival curated by the Villa Gillet, a French cultural institute interested in thought in all its expressions that brings together thinkers and artists from all over the world.